Although perhaps not quite as earth-shattering a flavor combination as peanut butter and chocolate, strawberries and bananas do make a delicious pair.
So when a carton of ripe summer strawberries joined a bunch of quickly blackening bananas on our kitchen counter, their fate was sealed: strawberry banana bread was a given.
I started with a modified version of Joanne Chang’s banana bread, (from her cookbook, not the Food Network website; the recipes are slightly different), which has become my go-to recipe. I swapped in whole wheat pastry flour (for the all-purpose), cut down on the sugar (from over 1 cup to 3/4 cup), subbed in Greek yogurt (for the sour cream), and added in chopped fresh strawberries.
The pockets of sweet red berries add both moisture and flavor to an already tender and tasty quick bread, which gets even better after sitting at room temperature (tightly wrapped, of course) for 24 hours.
If you’re an add-in junkie, I bet a few handfuls of white chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, or semi-sweet chocolate chips tossed into the batter would yield a fabulous result.
I haven’t actually tried it yet, but a smear of peanut butter slathered on top of a toasted slice of this bread would also be a welcomed addition.
That being said, a nice thick slice unadorned is perfectly delectable!
Strawberry Banana Bread
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Keywords: bake bread breakfast snack banana strawberries summer
Ingredients (1 loaf, 12 slices)
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
- 3/4 cup unrefined granulated sugar, such as evaporated cane juice
- 2 large eggs, preferably organic
- 1/2 cup neutral-flavored oil
- 3 1/2 overripe medium-sized bananas, peeled & mashed (about 1 1/3 cups mashed)
- 2 Tbsp plain yogurt (I used 2% Greek)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup finely chopped hulled strawberries, preferably organic
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter, oil, or spray a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a medium bowl using a handheld electric mixer) beat together the sugar and eggs on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
On low speed, slowly drizzle in the oil. Add in the mashed bananas, yogurt, and vanilla extract; mix on low speed just until combined.
Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour mixture and chopped strawberries just until dry ingredients are fully moistened (no flour streaks should be visible).
Pour batter in the prepared loaf pan.
Bake for 1 hour, or until golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 30 minutes, then finish cooling on a wire rack.
Nutritional Information Per Serving (1/12th of the loaf):
222.1 calories, 10.3 grams fat, 1.0 gram saturated fat, 2.9 grams fiber, 16.2 grams sugars, 2.9 grams protein
